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SW: Fallen Order's Protagonist is a guy because of Rey; no alien protag so people aren't "alienated"

Deepwater

Deepwater

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,349
So I originally saw this reported here: https://gamerant.com/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-protagonist-is-male-because-of-rey/

Original Audio here @ the 26:15 mark :
https://www.gameinformer.com/video-...wering-star-wars-jedi-fallen-orders-lingering

Stig Amussen gave an interview on The Game Informer Show podcast where he was answering a bunch of fan questions. While answering a question about playing as aliens in the game, he mentioned very briefly how they arrived at a male protagonist. Here's my transcript of his response (emphasis mine):

Stig Amussen: Yes we talked about doing an alien creature, we talked about different gender... we arrived at where we were because at the time Rey was kind of the thing for Star Wars and it made a lot more sense to have a male protagonist. And ultimately we didnt go with alien race...we felt like, no pun intended, it would alienate a lot of people. We wanted to make sure there was a real human connection to the character that we have in the game.
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I guess it was only a matter of time before Disney Star Wars hit the "Female Protag" quota.
 
Frosty Death Knight

Frosty Death Knight

Member
Oct 31, 2017
229
I wanted an alien protagonist really badly, male or female doesn't matter but the alien races of Star Wars are really neat and would love for that side to be developed more outside of Ashoka. Still excited to play the game all the same.
 
ASaiyan

ASaiyan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,228
I'm more alienated by the generic white boy tbh, lol. He doesn't seem like an interesting person or someone I would ever want to be.
 
Zippo

Zippo

Banned
Dec 8, 2017
8,256
He already seems more interesting than her but the whole alien thing seems like a PR misfire.

Though, that's typical EA.
 
ashtaar

ashtaar

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,518
Eh in context it doesn't sound as bad, I thought they were going to say the backlash to Rey but it seems more like they weren't trying to piggy back/ steal Rey's shine
 
ThatOneGuy

ThatOneGuy

Member
Dec 3, 2018
1,207
Terrible reasoning for going the route they did. I'm not pissed that it's another white dude lead in a game but that's the explanation you give? Come on now.

You can have multiple female leads going on in a franchise at once, why limit yourself because "they already have a female lead in the film's".
 
Bansai

Bansai

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,236
SW universe has some goofy ass lookin' aliens so I'm glad they steered clear of that venue.
 

jeyu

Member
Dec 6, 2018
168
I like male protagonists. Have no problem with female ones. But Male protagonists has the sweet spot for me .
 
Aly

Aly

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,114
Missed opportunity for a non-brown haired white female protagonist in Star Wars. Why not a black woman for once?
 
Cross-Section

Cross-Section

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,873
Wow, the female protagonist stuff is pretty insulting in itself, but to just assume that people would be turned off by an alien protag...

Maybe Stig wasn't the right person to lead this game after all.
 
Pagusas

Pagusas

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,876
Frisco, Tx
Why did gender even have to be talked about? All you had to say was "we had an artistic vision for this character". That's it. Make, female, alien, doesn't matter. Bringing current social issues into the discussion just automatically makes your choice seem bullshit no matter which direction you go. Trust your artist and let their visions stand, don't design by committee or PR departments for this.
 
The Emperor

The Emperor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,790
Hopefully he is a gay at least or you have a choice in love interests if that is a part of the game
 
Xyer

Xyer

Avenger
Aug 26, 2018
7,327
Thank god. I wouldn't be able to feel safe and secure in a world full of robots and aliens if I had to actually play one. Whew.

What is this dumb logic. Lol.
 

Tiggleton

Banned
Apr 25, 2019
457
DrArchon said:
Doesn't explain why he's white.
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I think this is just some ingrained racial bias. Not saying the devs are racist but people tend to subconsciously design characters that look like them. As an aspiring writer myself, I became aware of this and now push to create non-white male characters by default. Before I'd just write a white dude and then I started to ask "why?" and there was no reason so I changed it.
 
Kreed

Kreed

The Negro Historian
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,103
Something tells me if the protagonist of the new Star Wars films had been Male that this game still would have had a Male protagonist.

Can you imagine if media companies actually worked like this? A movie has a White Male protagonist so the game it's based on gets a Woman/POC protag or vice versa? Would instantly fix a lot of representation problems.
 
Fliesen

Fliesen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,253
ashtaar said:
Eh in context it doesn't sound as bad, I thought they were going to say the backlash to Rey but it seems more like they weren't trying to piggy back/ steal Rey's shine
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Yeah, that's kinda my take on it.
Like, the Star Wars franchise has had some great female protags in the recent years (Rey in the new trilogy, Jyn Erso in Rogue One, Iden Versio in Battlefront 2) - so they (Lucasfilm) really have nothing to 'prove' with regards to gender representation.

The fact that he's still a rather 'generic' white dude is a different thing.
But that can be explained by them really loving the actor and obviously modeling the protagonist after him.
 

JustinP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,343
"And ultimately we didnt go with alien race...we felt like, no pun intended, it would alienate a lot of people. We wanted to make sure there was a real human connection to the character that we have in the game."

F3c4DrP.jpg


People felt connected to this robot and it barely has a face. These comments by Stig do not instill confidence in their creativity.
 

Deleted member 1635

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,800
Tiggleton said:
I think this is just some ingrained racial bias. Not saying the devs are racist but people tend to subconsciously design characters that look like them. As an aspiring writer myself, I became aware of this and now push to create non-white male characters by default. Before I'd just write a white dude and then I started to ask "why?" and there was no reason so I changed it.
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Shouldn't you always be asking yourself, "why" when it comes to your characters' settings? Why just for the white dudes?
 
Toxi

Toxi

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
17,547
So it turns out that in addition to only one black guy per film, the Star Wars universe has a limit on the number of starring women before returning to the status quo.

Like seriously, what a pathetic answer.
 
LavaBadger

LavaBadger

Member
Nov 14, 2017
4,988
Did they also want to make him super generic and boring so as not to take away from the rest of the heroes in the franchise?
 
Buzzman

Buzzman

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,549
THANK GOD. I hate it when I have to control some weird elf creature or robot or space alien or woman.
I'll inevitably be busy with so many thoughts that I can't focus on the gameplay.
Like, how do they go to the bathroom? How does sex work for them?
I just want standard action without any dumb distractions.
 
Viceratops

Viceratops

Banned
Jun 29, 2018
2,570
I don't understand why it's so hard for people to just answer with "this is the character we wanted to make"
 
hank_tree

hank_tree

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,596
I think they made the wrong decision there.
 
uzipukki

uzipukki

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,722
What a dumbass reason. Should have had an option on gender, race and species.
 
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